One of the biggest problems for wearers of contact lenses is the cleaning and disinfecting that these require. If dirt and microorganisms are not to enter the eye with the lenses, these must be cleaned, soaked, and disinfected using specified steps, materials, and treatment schedules for each type of contact lens. In spite of all the recommendations, lens wearers do suffer eye problems from poor lens hygiene, and it is well known that many lens wearers do not follow the suggested procedures faithfully enough to avoid eye problems from contact lenses introducing dirt and microorganisms into the eyes.
To help with the problem of contact lens hygiene, my invention applies ozone purification to the disinfecting of contact lenses. In doing so, I have focused on simple and effective systems that are inexpensive to manufacture and easy and convenient for a user to operate. My systems for purifying contact lenses facilitate the wearer's desire for simple and reliable lens disinfection, require minimum involvement by the wearer, and minimize chances of a failure. Achieving these goals with a small and inexpensive lens purifier is an intricate problem solved with varying degrees of sophistication by the several embodiments disclosed in this application. These embodiments use ozone for purifying the lenses, and they generate the ozone and apply it to the lenses in systems that represent approximately a 1000:1 reduction in scale from the present art of ozone purification.